
Suril Patel, who was a partner at Allen & Overy before joining genAI pioneer Harvey as VP of Partnerships has now joined elite firm Kirkland & Ellis. The move follows that of Gordon Moodie, who was a partner at elite New York law firm, Wachtell Lipton, before joining Harvey, and then left to join Debevoise & Plimpton last month.
The two moves have a lot in common. First, both Patel and Moodie were initially at leading law firms and in the case of Moodie probably one of the most profitable on the planet. Both also joined Harvey in June 2023, just as genAI fever was red hot. And now, a year and a bit later they have joined other top firms where they can earn stellar remuneration.
The question is why the moves?
Well, one possible reason is that amid the excitement of genAI’s arrival in the legal world both Patel and Moodie felt that joining a startup would not just be an exciting adventure, but a very lucrative one as well.
Now, neither have commented on that aspect, but their move to Harvey came just as Thomson Reuters bought Casetext for $650m, and money was pouring into the field of AI from all directions. It would not be unreasonable to believe something extraordinary was about to happen.
This is of course speculation, neither Big Law partner has commented on their reasons for leaving Harvey.

In Patel’s case, who will be a partner in Kirkland & Ellis’s Debt Finance Group, he said: ‘I’m delighted to help bring Kirkland’s structured finance platform to London. The Firm has amassed a terrific group of lawyers covering structured finance, and the ability to access the knowledge of the entire Kirkland platform is a huge addition for clients in Europe that are seeking structured finance advice.’
Meanwhile, in Kirkland’s announcement it does mention that he worked at Harvey, but not much else is said.
In Moodie’s case, he made a similar type of standard statement and Debevoise’s announcement of the new partner didn’t even mention Harvey by name. Although it noted that Moodie – an M&A lawyer – would be helping with AI company deals, and instead mentioned that he had ‘recently led product development at an artificial intelligence company backed by OpenAI that has developed a secure AI platform for lawyers’.

By chance, this site’s founder spoke to Moodie on several occasions in the build-up to moderating a panel on legal AI at ILTACon this summer. On one occasion, AL’s founder joked with Moodie about what kind of reaction those close to him had given when he’d told them he was leaving the partnership of Wachtell – one of the most prestigious law firms in America – to join a very new startup.
Now, money may have nothing at all to do with this. No doubt Harvey had created very good packages for both of them. However, it’s hard to compete with Big Law partner money – both Kirkland and Wachtell average equity partner remuneration is over $7 million per year. In fact, in Patel’s case, who has gone from Allen & Overy (now A&O Shearman), to Harvey, to Kirkland, it’s quite possible he’s making more money now than when he was at A&O, where average PEP is around £2.2 million, or $2.8 million.
Plus, it’s worth adding that Patel still lists an advisory role for Harvey on his LinkedIn page, so that is presumably not without remuneration as well.
In terms of potential shareholdings and options that are still held, or not…., none of that is public, but it’s not unusual to give high-ranking hires notable options in a startup.
So, where does this leave us?
Well, one reason why Harvey was able to win the hearts and minds of top firms so quickly is that aside from being early in the game, and having amazing backers such as OpenAI itself, Harvey’s team could ‘speak BigLaw’ one could say. If you are a partner in a top firm and the person sitting opposite you during the legal tech demo used to be a partner at a firm you have huge respect for, then that certainly makes things easier.
But, such hires were very unusual. Many of the founders in the wave of legal AI and legal tech startup companies in 2015/2016 were also from BigLaw – but they were almost all at associate level.
Does their loss change things? Well, for a company that is growing at an incredible pace, moving into Small Law firms, that now has a CLM partnership with Icertis, and is selling directly to inhouse teams, as well as expanding its BigLaw client list, plus hiring dozens of new staff, it’s hard to see the loss of two people who were not founders as a serious blow.
Startups are inherently a bit fluid at the start with people coming and going. So, on balance, two people leaving, even if from esteemed law firms, is not the end of the world. Moreover, Harvey raised $100 million over the summer and is powering away along an ambitious growth trajectory. It’s unlikely these moves will slow that down. But, it’s certainly noteworthy when partners leave secure roles to join a startup, then leave not much more than a year later….